Communication
by SourFox
Summary: Eren already has his hands full with his job, not to mention his online tutoring. He doesn't know how he'll manage a difficult client on top of that, especially one that is rude, verbally abusive, and does not want to admit that he needs help. Riren. AU. Yaoi. Cover art is not mine.
1. Prologue

**Title: Communication**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin**

**Warning: This story will contain yaoi. **

**Hey hey! Welcome to my first SnK fanfic. This will be a light, slice of life story with Riren thrown in the mix. I apologise for any mistakes made, I do not have a Beta. I hope you all enjoy. **

**Prologue: **

Noise. There was an insufferable noise. Eren knew what it was, but that only made his situation all the worse. A day of demons and an evil overlord awaited him, and it was all thanks to the damn noise. He cursed its existence as he yanked his pillow out from under his head and hugged it over his face.

The shrill ringing continued.

"Eren!" A voice shouted form the other side of the bedroom door.

"What?" came the muffled reply.

"Get up. The bus will be here in half an hour and the alarm will start to annoy the neighbours." There was a pause before the voice said, "If you miss the bus, you'll have to skip breakfast."

Eren groaned into the pillow. He violently pulled the pillow away from his face and slammed it down next him. He reached up and felt backwards along the shelf that was the headboard. After a few moments of having felt around and finding everything but his phone, Eren pushed himself up onto an elbow and looked for his phone through bleary eyes. It was nestled between two stacks of books on the shelf furthest from him.

Damn conscience, Eren cursed at himself. He knew that he had intentionally put the phone there so that he would have to stretch in order to get it. Once he did that, his brain would start to function more, and therefore, he would wake up. If his phone had been beside him, he would have just killed the alarm and continued sleeping. It had happened in the past. The aforementioned evil overlord had decided to dock a day's worth of pay because of it.

Eren started his day by sitting up, a momentous improvement from earlier. Without giving anything much thought, he went through his morning routine. He frowned at the paper stuck to his wardrobe, squinting his eyes to read it. He started at the top of the list: Monday – Yellow. He knew it wasn't Monday, so he skimmed down until he saw the day he was looking for: Friday – Blue. With a sigh, he pulled open his wardrobe. He could not remember if he had worn his blue shirt sometime earlier in the week or not.

Noticing he had still had a clean blue shirt, Eren was disappointed by the distinct lack of emotion at finding it. He didn't know what he had expected. He just wanted to get himself worked up so that he could be ready to face the day ahead of him, and he knew he wouldn't achieve that by finding a clean shirt. He hung the shirt and a pair of black pants on the hook behind his bedroom door.

Eren opened his door and made the great distance of four steps to the bathroom, grabbing his green towel that hung over the stair railing as he went. He glanced over to the bedroom perpendicular to bathroom. The door was open, so he glanced in as he stepped into the bathroom. It looked like Bertolt was awake already. He did not even have to look behind him to know that the bedroom door next to his was open as well. Marco was always the first to wake up out of the three of them.

Sighing to himself, Eren showered quickly. The house they lived in did not have a geyser, none of the houses in the complex did, but they rarely needed hot water in any case. They would suffer when December finally came around though. It was not cold in December per say, it was just cool enough to make the cold water really chilly to shower with. Living in a tropical environment like Thailand had its pros and cons. One of those cons, for instance, was that there was no proper shower enclosure. They had a detachable shower head and a drain in the corner. When you showered, you had to do it in a way that would not wet the entire bathroom floor. Luckily, they had two bathrooms. Marco had the downstairs bathroom all to himself, which had a wall that separated the shower from the rest of the bathroom.

Lucky bastard, Eren thought as he used his foot to sweep as much of the water towards the drain as possible. If he had more time, he would have used a mop, but time was precious. He dried himself off and wrapped his towel around his waist. He brushed his teeth and rinsed out his mouth with mouthwash. Once that was done, Eren returned to his room and dressed. He half-heartedly dried his hair with the towel and made his bed. Once both of those were done, he tossed his towel over the rail and went downstairs.

It was a semi open plan space with white tiled floors and white walls. To his right was the living room with the small, grey L-shaped couch, a TV they rarely used and a tall glass cabinet that housed various papers and paraphernalia belonging to Eren and his two housemates. In front of him was the 'dining room' that consisted solely of a cheap table and three blue plastic chairs. If Eren rounded the small corner around the wall to his left, he stepped into the kitchen with their small fridge and large shelving unit that housed various things from spices to their mountain of plastic bags that was shoved into the one corner. They had both a back and front 'yard'. The back was used to wash dishes and hang laundry, while the front had a pathetic, dying patch of grass with a large rectangular concrete area for parking a car. The space was instead used to barbeque and eat outside, where there was another cheap table and more plastic chairs. It was certainly not the most luxurious he had lived in in the four years he had moved out of his father's house, but it was not the worst either.

"Morning Eren," Bertolt greeted as he walked into the house, sliding the security/anti-bug panel closed behind him.

"Morning."

Eren walked over to the table and started the little coffee machine. He would have preferred tea, but he knew they were out of milk, or rather, Eren was out of milk. He was the only one that used it. It was a good thing too. Milk was not the cheapest to buy.

"What's the time?" Eren asked.

"About seven thirty," was the reply as Bertolt gathered his things, putting them into his laptop bag.

Eren groaned. He didn't have enough time for coffee. He switched the machine off and walked over to the couch and picked up his laptop bag, checking to see if he had his wallet, house keys and passport. With all of those present, he got a one and a half litre bottle of water from the fridge and followed Bertolt out of the house.

Bertolt locked the all the sliding doors while Eren slipped on his shoes. Eren could see the neighbours going about their own business. He greeted the old lady that lived across the street and walked to the entrance to the complex with Bertolt, where Marco was would be sitting in front of the small convenience store, waiting for the bus.

The walk was a short one. Eren spotted Marco and silently sat next the man, putting his bag next to him on the bench. He watched as Marco talked to the children and also glanced as people went about their business, going in and out of the store. He had long since memorised all the morning regulars. A factory worker would ride to the store on his scooter and buy six bottles of M-150 energy drinks every day, without fail. There was also a mother that bought her children's food at the store every morning as well.

A hand touched his shoulder, and Eren was drawn out of mind numbing activity of watching people. He looked to Marco, who smiled and pointed. The bus had arrived. He glared at the yellow monstrosity and made his way to it. Five kids ran towards it, and Eren and the other adults had to wait for them to get on it first. Bertolt was the first of them to climb on, then Marco and lastly, Eren.

A bus full of kids awaited them. They had learned to let Bertolt take the one seat open that was actually the access point to the engine, because he was too tall to stand in the bus. Eren moved down the seats and stood near the back, where the older children sat. The first eight rows of seat were taken over by kindergarten children who sat three in two seats.

"Teacher Eren!"

Despite his grouchiness, Eren smiled and greeted the child back. He was an English teacher at a school in town, just like Marco and Bertolt. Marco taught at the kindergarten and Bertolt taught at the same school Eren did. He had been a TEFL teacher for the past four years, and he had moved around Thailand a lot over that time.

The bus he was currently on was the school bus. It first dropped off all the kindergarten students, and Marco and then proceeded to the other school. It wasn't free, of course, but it was better than walking an hour to get to the school.

"Teacher Eren," one teenager said.

"Yes?" Eren asked.

"Is Jiàoshī Mi your girlfriend?"

Eren sighed. It was a wonderful way to start his day without even having arrived at the school yet. The only upsides he could see to his day was that it was Friday and he got free lunch. Other than that, it would a busy six hours of trying to teach children English.

**XxxxX**

(Meanwhile in Japan)

Levi stopped typing long enough to glance at his clock and then continued. It was nine-thirty. He was just about done with his proposal. All he needed to do was order a junior member to print it for him and then hand it in the copies to Finance and Sales before he left for his meeting.

"Uh, Levi-heichou?"Perta asked.

"Yes?"

"Hanji-sensei is here to see you," she said.

Levi didn't stop typing. He clicked his tongue and reread his proposal. He knew Petra was waiting for him to acknowledge that he had heard her, but he was busy.

"Damn shitty glasses," Levi cursed. "If she's not late, she's too early."

Petra gave a light chuckle and then sat back down in her seat. Levi saved the document and looked over his laptop at his team. He was editor-in-chief of a monthly seinen manga magazine called Shiganshina in Chōsa Heidan Publishing. He had handpicked his team, because he didn't have time to edit manga chapters, review and edit the final layout of the magazine and babysit junior editors at the same time.

"Olou,"Levi said, "I want you to print out copies of my proposal and hand them to Finance and Sales. Tell those idiots not to lose them. I won't give them any spares during the meeting tomorrow."

Levi got up from his desk and walked out of Shiganshina's office space that share floor space with four other teams as well. He took the elevator down to the ground floor, where Hanji would be waiting for him. The elevator ride was boring, tedious. He was glad to be out of his office for a while. He had invested a lot of money in a decent office chair, but a person could only sit in it for so many hours on end. Hanji would pay for his tea in any case.

"Levi!" Hanji called before the elevator doors finished opening.

Levi let Hanji pull him out of the elevator by the arm, but yanked his arm back as soon as he was out of it.

"Tea shitty glasses," he said, heading for the doors. "After tea, we're going to look over your storyboard and discuss the plot for you upcoming chapters."

Hanji smiled broadly. "And after that, I'll tell you abo-"

Levi stopped her from finishing the sentence by letting the door close in her face. He pulled on his coat as he waited for Hanji to exit the building. He had no interest in hearing about whatever weird, latest science experiment she had read about recently, nor did he want to know about some blind date she organised for him behind his back. All he wanted to do was his job. That included telling her that her work was utter shit, which it was at times.

He would give Hanji credit where it was due. Her current work, Kyojin, was ranked in the top ten most popular on-going manga. Levi had been Hanji's editor since her debut manga, which had made some ripples, but it was not until her second work, Primordial, that Hanji started getting noticed and selling her works well. Kyojin had won the Chōsa Heidan Award in 2007 and came second in the Manga Taishō in 2010.

"That was mean Levi," Hanji whined. "You can buy your own tea now."

"Oh, is that what you think?" Levi asked rhetorically. "Maybe you can find yourself a new editor that will put up with all your bullshit and see how well your tankōbon sell then."

"No way," Hanji said firmly as she caught up with Levi. "Everyone knows you're the best editor in the shōnen/seinen field. Just look at what you've been able to do with my work! You probably have dozens of up-coming mangaka asking you to look over their works. Most of them are stupid people. Remember how much you hate stupid people?"

"What exactly does that say about you?"

Hanji gave Levi a face of mock shock and hurt. He had known her for over fifteen years, so he knew that as much as he threatened to leave her high and dry to struggle with a new editor; he would never actually do it. He hated the fact that Hanji knew that as well. She liked to pull on her leash because of that.

They entered the café and sat in a booth near the back, away from prying eyes.

"I want a Hong Kong," Levi gave his order to the waitress.

"That's not your usual," Hanji commented. "Trying to make up for you black personality?"

Levi glared at her.

"There's no need to try use that old trick on me. It stopped working long ago." Hanji laughed and waved the look away dismissively.

Levi continued to glare at her.

Hanji's laughter died away with a nervous chuckle. "You can stop anytime now."

"I thought it stopped working on you, so why are so quiet now?" Levi inquired. He turned his attention to the waitress. "That sorry excuse of a human will have the House Blend."

Hanji was quiet for a few seconds before she started talking again. Levi was thankful it was about trivial matters that included her assistants and her cats Sonny and Bean. He would just tolerate it until their drinks arrived and then start work.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you earlier that I know how I can help you."

"Help me?" Levi asked. That had certainly gotten his full attention. "I don't remember needing any sort of help, especially from you."

"Aw, everyone needs a bit of help sometimes, even you Levi," Hanji crooned.

"Whatever it is I apparently need help with, I'm sure I will manage on my own."

"Just here me out!"

Levi was silent. If he kept on refusing her, she would keep on pestering him, and that would ultimately get in the way of his work, which would delay work that was waiting for him back at the office.

"I'll listen," he said, albeit reluctantly.

"Great!" Hanji cheered. "You were invited to Humanity Publishing in England, right?"

Levi frowned. "How do you even know about that?"

"That doesn't matter," Hanji said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "but what matters is that the CEO, Erwin Smith personally invited you."

"I don't see how this is a problem that needs your intervention."

"You have to give a speech at an important party. Humanity Publishing owns Chōsa Heidan, and when you joined the company, you transformed Shiganshina from a deadbeat magazine into the bestselling magazine there in less than a year."

Levi still didn't see this problem Hanji was so eager to help with. He had worked at a different publishing company, but circumstances made him leave, and Hanji had followed him right to Chōsa Heidan.

"And your point is?" Levi asked.

"How good is your English?" Hanji asked.

Levi remained silent. He now understood. He would have to give a speech about his experiences in rebuilding Shiganshina. He doubted it would be received well in Japanese. His English was good, but he knew that his pronunciation was lacking. Writing a speech in English would be a challenge, nothing major, but he would have to spend time he didn't have to work on it.

"This is where I come in," Hanji said with a smile.

"Do you now?"

"What, did you think I've been using so many English and German terms in my work for the fun of it?" Hanji asked. "I have a teacher you know."

"And how exactly does this teacher help you with your work?" Levi asked. He actually didn't want to know because he speculated that he would end up murdering Hanji if he did.

"Maybe I send him copies of my script?" Hanji asked uncertainly.

"What? Are you-"

Levi was interrupted by the waitress that had arrived with their drinks. He waited until she left again, but Hanji beat him to it.

"Don't be mad! You haven't seen any leaks on the internet have you? He doesn't have time for that."

"That doesn't chance the fact that you have been sharing your works with an outside source, or that you have been consulting with someone without telling me about it."

Hanji pouted as she took her coffee in hand. "You can be mad at me, but let him help you with your English, especially the speech!"

Levi blew on his tea. It was true that Hanji said Hong Kong milk tea was not his usual, but he had felt like a change. As he took a sip, he thought about this mysterious new English teacher Hanji had been contacting.

"Why should I pay some ugly, old man to do my work for me?" Levi asked.

Hanji smiled again. Levi didn't like that smile. It usually meant she had something else up her sleeve.

"Do you want to see a picture?" she probed as she took her phone from her handbag.

"Normal people don't have pictures of their language teachers on their phones, shitty glasses."

"Just one look, Levi," Hanji said. "If you still don't like him, then I'll drop the whole thing."

It was a tempting offer, but Levi knew that Hanji had something planned. She never suggested something and then just dropped it. Even characters she created that were completely written off by him were incorporated into the story, even if only to appear in a single panel. They were usually brutally murdered.

Levi had a sinking feeling that he was about to go through a similar process.

**There's the prologue for you. I hope I piqued your interest enough to read more of what is to come. This is not my main project, so updates will be erratic. For those who don't know, ****Jiàoshī**** is Mandarin for teacher. It is the title given to Chinese teachers in Thailand. This story starts in November 2014. **

**Please leave a review, constructive criticism is also appreciated. Reviews are the bread and butter of every fanfic author.**

**See you later. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey-hey people! This was meant to be out much sooner, but I suddenly came down with the flu. Needless to say, I spent most of my free time sleeping instead of writing. I want to thank amour de amour de amour and Erlevien for their reviews! I want to thank everyone who put up alerts and favourites for this story.**

"_**Italics" – **_**foreign language. I was going to use a translator, but then you'll see why I chose not to use one. **

**Chapter 01: **

Levi wanted to be at home sitting on his couch. He was instead sitting in his car outside of Hanji's apartment complex. He had work he wanted to finish, but he was going to waste his time with this English teacher of Hanji's. He wanted to have a hot cup of seisanshōshu tea, and not whatever weak commercial blends shitty glasses served him every time he paid her a visit. Now that Levi thought about it, he had to do that more often than he liked since make sure at least tried to make her deadlines.

With a sigh, Levi put his phone in his pocket and unbuckled his seatbelt. He got out of the car and walked through the lobby and to the elevator. He took the elevator to the top floor. Levi took out his keys and opened the door to Hanji's apartment. Most people would find it suspicious that an editor had a key to his author's apartment. He had long since stopped worrying about potential rumours, especially after he once had to kick open Hanji's door because she had seriously missed her deadline. He had found her passed out over her desk with a high fever. He hated babysitting Hanji when she was sick, especially if she still had work to finish.

Levi went inside and took off his shoes.

"Levi!" Hanji called as she popped her head into the hallway.

"Let's get this over with shitty glasses," he said back. "I have work to finish."

Hanji pouted and disappeared from Levi's sight. He placed his shoes together and turned them to face the door. He removed his coat and hung it on the coat hanger. He felt something brush against his leg. He already knew what it was, and he stood still for a moment. Levi looked down and saw the bobtail, Sonny, lazily rubbing its body around his leg. He despised it. It always left long white hairs on his clothes.

"Go away you fleabag."

Levi stepped around the cat and clicked his tongue when Sonny's bell chimed as it followed him. He stepped into the archway and stopped. He looked around the room. It was large and it contained the kitchen, dining room and living room in one. There were books and cat toys scattered around as if a hurricane had swept through the place. Levi closed his eyes and decided to ignore the mess for now. He didn't have the energy to deal with Hanji's mess. He sat down on the couch as Hanji scurried around in the kitchen, probably getting some drinks and snacks ready.

Levi got comfortable on the couch, but stopped from fully relaxing into the soft cushions when he saw a whole stack of sports magazines on the coffee table. He sat forward and picked up the magazine on top of the pile. It was the latest issue of Sports Graphic Number, or Number for short. He knew Hanji had no interest in sport, besides trying to learn the basics of basketball, so Levi tried to think of a plausible reason her sudden Number magazine hording.

"Are you working on something new, shitty glasses?" he asked.

"Hah?" Hanji asked nonsensically. "What're you talking about?"

Levi didn't bother to face her; he just held the magazine up high enough for her to see. He had started flipping through it since he had yet to buy it himself. He could probably get away with nicking it from Hanji. That would save him some money. He started reading the article on Nanaba, a World Champion figure skater. Figure skating was not something he took much interest in, but he did appreciate and acknowledge the dedication and form of the athletes. He preferred watching motorsport and the occasional gymnastic championship.

"Oh that!" Hanji exclaimed as she set down a bowl of chips and more Pocky boxes than she could carry. "I just started collecting them. They're meant to be a gift, but I can't give it until I have the entire collection."

"Who the hell would want over four hundred and eighty magazines?"

Hanji shrugged her shoulders and went over to the television. "Don't think of stealing the latest one. You can afford your own."

"You're the richer one out of the two of us, shitty glasses," Levi said as he turned another page. "I'm sure buying an extra one won't hurt your wallet."

"It's not as if you don't get a good pay check yourself. You're the editor-in-chief of Shigansina. I also know that you have money stashed away from your days as an Olympic gymnast."

"Do I now?" Levi asked. He wondered how she knew that. "I don't recall ever telling you I was part of the Olympic gymnastics team."

Hanji gave him a broad smile. "You didn't. I read about it yesterday! Where is it again?"

Levi watched as she started fumbling around for something. He sighed and grabbed a box of Pocky. He tore open the box and the film. He put one in his mouth and let the chocolate coating melt a bit before he bit off a portion of the Pocky.

"Here it is!" Hanji proclaimed as she picked up a magazine. "Take a look at this."

She handed the magazine over to Levi, who nonchalantly looked at the cover. A seventeen year old version of himself was staring back at him. He remembered the day he wasted at the studio that to take the photos for the magazine. He was on the pommel horse, one hand wrapped around the bar, while his free hand was stretched out, his legs parted beside him. What he found most interesting about the picture was the intense look he had in his eyes. He knew that his eyes didn't have the same intensity as they had back then.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Hanji asked as she took the magazine back and flipped to the feature article on Levi. "Just look at you!"

Levi had no choice but to look as Hanji shoved the magazine in his face. There were a few photos of him from the 1996 Summer Olympics and one or two childhood photos that he had been opposed to being published.

"What's the point in telling you about something that happened eighteen years ago?" Levi asked rhetorically as he closed the magazine and threw it onto the coffee table, effectively closing the subject.

Levi took another Pocky stick and ate it in silence. He knew that Hanji was pouting, but her sad excuse of a kicked puppy look didn't work on him. He returned to reading the article on Nanaba and completely ignored Hanji's existence. He heard Hanji sigh and walk away from him. Levi assumed she went back to the kitchen to prepare his tea. He frowned at the picture of Nanaba expecting a perfect landing.

"Tch," Levi clicked his tongue and tossed the magazine onto the coffee table as well. It landed on top of the 1996 issue, much to his relief. _Now I don't have to look at that ridiculous cover_.

"So," Hanji started uneasily, "when I'm done with your tea, we can make the call. It's almost nine-thirty anyway."

Levi scowled all the more. He had momentarily forgotten the reason he was in Hanji's in the first place. He was not in the mood to deal with an all-knowing, insufferable fool. Levi took the mug from Hanji when she handed him his tea. He looked at the steaming liquid and inhaled its aroma. If he had to guess from the smell and colour alone, he would say it was genmaicha, a green tea that was combined with roasted brown rice. He blew on the tea as he watched Hanji connected her laptop to the television.

"What is this baby-faced English teacher's name?" Levi asked. He took a sip of the tea and frowned at its mediocre flavour. "Oi, shitty glasses I thought I told you to stop buying cheap brands."

Hanji looked up from her laptop and blinked at Levi. "Ah come on. The last time I bought a really expensive brand and you said and I quote: 'It tastes like shit.'"

"Like I said earlier, you're the richer one, so buy some proper tea, and it's not always the most expensive brands that are the best. Just use some intuition. You're a woman aren't you?"

Hanji heaved a loud sigh and moved her laptop to the coffee table and fiddled with the laptop to get the best angle with the webcam.

"He doesn't have a baby face," she said. "I think he's quite cute."

"Are you a cougar now?"

Hanji made a face at Levi. "I'm only two years older than you, and no. I'm very happy with Mike."

At that, Levi remembered that the two of were in a committed relationship, even if it was a strange one. They made an odd pair, Hanji the eccentric mangaka, and Mike, a famous basketball player that played for America during international games, and for the Titans in the National Basketball League in Japan. They were the most unlikely pair. He had always pictured Hanji having a relationship with Moblit, her assistant, but she claimed only to have a familial love for the man.

"Where is that giant anyway?" Levi asked.

"He's busy lately, and he knows my deadline is getting closer, so he doesn't come over until I finish my work." Hanji smiled. "But enough of that, I know you're trying to stall me. This meeting is happening whether you like it or not."

"I can't wait."

Levi watched the TV screen as Hanji connected to her Wi-Fi and opened up Skype. From what he could see, Hanji had a large contact list. He wondered which one belonged to the still unnamed English teacher. He caught sight of the woman's profile picture.

"Sonny and Bean?" Levi sighed. "That makes you look like a lonely cat lady."

"Don't say that," Hanji retorted. "They look cute."

Hanji clicked on the profile photo of some sort of dragon statue. He read the name at the bottom of the photo: . Eren Jaeger?

"You ready?" Hanji asked enthusiastically.

"No."

"Try to put a smile on your face," she suggested. "Don't look so grumpy."

"Tch."

Hanji gave an exaggerated sigh and clicked the video call button. Levi watched as the call started to connect and the annoying beeping sound started. They waited for a few seconds. Hanji used the time to see it the webcam was in a good position while Levi just drank his tea.

The call was answered. The dragon statue picture disappeared and the television was filled with an expanse of brown.

"Huh? What's going on?" Hanji asked.

Levi kept quiet. The screen quickly lost the brown colour and they saw what looked like a room. There was a wardrobe in the background, so Levi assumed it was a bedroom.

"_Eren, you there?_" Hanji asked in English.

There was no reply, nor was there any sign of Eren.

"Well," Levi said, "this has been fun shitty glasses, but I have work to do back at home."

Levi was able to get as far as standing up when Hanji grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down. She hugged him tightly while whining.

"Please just stay a little longer," Hanji pleaded. "I'm sure Eren'll come soon."

A strange static noise sounded. Levi looked to the television. A cat was poking its nose around the screen, its large yellow eyes darted from side to side.

"Aw," Hanji cooed. "Isn't it adorable Levi? That must be Colossus."

She started shaking Levi from side to side as she went on about the cat on the television. Levi said nothing and sent the cat a glare.

"Hanji, I seriousl-"

A scream cut him off.

Hanji stopped dead and stared wide-eyed at the television. The cat had disappeared and they were looking at an empty room once again.

"_Blerrie hel_," a voice shouted.

Levi heard running and a thud. A young man with bright eyes came running into view and ran to the laptop. He just stared at the television. The boy was stark naked and wet. He watched as the boy grabbed something outside of the webcam's view and ran out of the room.

"_Die! Just die!_"

Levi pulled away from Hanji and resumed drinking the awful tea. That had certainly not been what he had expected.

**XXXXX**

Eren sighed as he stepped in under the cold spray of water. He tried not to make a habit of showering twice a day, but he felt like he needed it. It had not been his day. Even the lunch ladies had been against him. Well, maybe not, but his tongue was still a bit numb from the chicken curry they had served.

He squeezed out a generous dollop of shower gel and washed his body. Once that was once, he washed his face and simply stood under there. The cool water felt wonderful. He sighed and reached for the handle to turn off the water when he felt something crawl over his foot.

"_Blerrie hel_," he cursed.

Eren looked down and saw a cockroach on his foot, and another one crawling out of the shower drain. Without even giving it a second thought, he let out a loud scream and kicked out his foot and sent the bug flying across the bathroom. Eren yanked open the bathroom door and ran out. He slipped and rammed his hip into the rail of the staircase. He didn't let it bother him at the moment and ran into his room.

Eren ran over to the small desk at the foot of his bed and grabbed the bug spray behind his laptop. He ran back to the bathroom and tried to singlehandedly fumigate the place. The cockroaches were still crawling around.

"Die! Just die!" Eren shouted.

There were three things Eren could not handle. Dogs were at the top of list, followed closely by spiders and then cockroaches. He followed the cockroaches with the bug spray until they finally started twitching. Eren watched as they died. He waited another few second to make sure they were really dead and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Eren put down the now empty can of bug spray and wrapped a towel around his waist. He went back to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. He walked over to his wardrobe and opened the doors.

"Stupid cockroaches," he muttered.

"_Oi, Eren!" _

Eren yelped. He looked to his door. He expected Marco or Bertholt to have somehow silently opened the door, but it was closed. Confused, he ran a hand through his wet hair and turned back to his wardrobe.

"Can you hear me?"

Eren felt his blood run cold. He knew that voice. He turned around and looked at his laptop. Hanji and a stranger were sitting on a couch. Somehow, he didn't know how, but he was in the middle of a video call.

"Uh," Eren started, but he couldn't find his voice.

Without saying anything, he grabbed some clothes from his wardrobe and quickly changed in the bathroom. He stood in the bathroom. He was beyond embarrassed. He tried his best to lower the temperature of his face, but it felt like his cheeks would explode at any given moment. Eren took a deep breath and walked back to his bedroom and sat down by his desk.

"Hey Eren," Hanji greeted.

Eren looked up at his laptop and gave a small smile. "Good evening, Hanji."

"_I don't see how this will help,"_ the stranger said.

Eren looked at him for the first time. He was short compared to Hanji. His face had a hard look to it. What surprised Eren the most was the man's grey eyes. He wondered if the man was half Japanese.

"_Konbanwa," _Eren said. He hoped that would maybe soften the man up a little, but it seemed to have had no effect.

"Eren, I want you to meet Levi, my editor," Hanji said. "Levi, this is Eren Jaeger, my English teacher."

Eren smiled again, but Levi just sat there and drank his tea. Hanji started humming and stood up.

"_Oi, __where are you going shitty glasses__?" _Levi asked.

Eren sat back in his chair. Levi and Hanji talked too fast for him to follow what they were saying, but he used the time to grab the water bottle beside him and take a drink. He looked to at his screen to see that Levi was turned away from the webcam, talking to Hanji who was out of sight.

Hanji had said the Levi was her editor. Eren wondered what he was doing sitting in on one of his sessions with Hanji. They didn't talk about her work all the time, actually most of the time they just talked. Hanji had first approached Eren with the sole intent of improving her conversational English. After a few lessons, she started asking how she could use certain words in her work.

_Maybe Levi wants to check and see if I'll leak any of her stuff_, he thought.

Eren tried not to shirk away when Levi looked his way again. The man had a very intimidating gaze, and he did not even want to imagine what it would be like if ever met Levi in person. He started rubbing his hands together under the desk. It didn't seem like the man was going out of his way to glare at him. It seemed like it was just his natural state. To Eren, that made Levi all the more intimidating.

_I haven't felt this nervous since my first class_, Eren thought.

"Um." That wasn't what he wanted to say, but it had just slipped out.

Eren quickly pulled at the collar of his t-shirt. He glanced at the screen and saw that Levi was frowning at him. _Great_. Eren looked back down and saw what t-shirt he was wearing. Of all the T-shirts he had, he had to grab that one. He read the words upside-down: _I know karate and, like, two other Japanese words. _

The urge to just close his laptop as quickly as possible was a great one. First he ran around naked and now he wore the stupid t-shirt. Eren was just waiting for a meteor to land on him. That would be the perfect end to an unfortunate day.

"Are you going to sit there all night, brat?" Levi asked.

Eren looked up at this laptop again. His earlier anxiety was forgotten and he played the man's sentence over in his head. The sentence itself was good, but the pronunciation was off, but it was better than what Hanji's had been when she first started. He took a deep breath and sat up straight. He had a job to do. He could sulk all he wanted later.

"I'm not a brat," Eren replied. It was not the best reply, but he had to say something quickly just to get over the first hurdle. He started to think of Levi as one of his students. He needed to get the man talking more to assess his level. "Hanji said your name was Levi, right?"

Levi sat back with one arm resting along the top of the couch, the other in his lap. Eren watched as the man crossed the one leg over the other. He was glad that Levi seemed to be relaxing a bit more.

"My name is Levi Ackerman," the man said.

Eren hoped for Levi to say a bit more than that, but it seemed that he would lonely give information if asked for it.

"Is there a reason why you're sitting in on one of Hanji's lessons?"

Levi sighed. "No."

"_Don't lie!" _Hanji screamed from somewhere.

"_Get back in here, shitty glasses!"_ Levi shouted.

Eren smiled. He was happy to see that his Japanese was improving to the point where he could follow a basic conversation. At that thought, he looked back down at this t-shirt. He saw it once in a market, and he just couldn't resist. He had to buy it. He had been learning Japanese since he was a kid, but he had only been able to put it into practise recently.

"Levi-san is there-" Eren started.

"No," Levi interjected.

Eren just sat there. Hanji and Levi had gone back to arguing, but they were talking too fast for him to follow what was being said. He sighed and looked around his room for something to occupy himself with until he could make a contribution to the conversation. He saw Colossus sleeping on his pillow. With a smile, Eren picked the large cat up and sat back down at his desk with the cat in his lap.

Colossus purred as Eren started scratching under its chin.

"Eren," Hanji said.

"Yes?"

Eren looked up from the cat and saw that Hanji had returned.

"Can you help Levi with his English?" Hanji asked.

"_I never agreed to this!"_ Levi said.

Eren sighed. He would be able to squeeze Levi into his schedule if the man was eager to learn, but he was the complete opposite. He didn't want to struggle with someone like Levi. On the other hand, Hanji really wanted him to teach Levi. He didn't know how to say no to Hanji.

"Maybe," Eren said.

"Aw, come one, Eren!" Hanji whined. "Levi has an important speech to prepare for, and he has to give it in English."

_Oh, that changes things._

"_I said I would manage on my own_," Levi said, but neither Hanji nor Eren paid him much attention.

"_You said you had a lot of work right?" _Hanji smiled_. "Let Eren help you."_

Eren watched as Hanji and Levi stared at each other. He expected a point-blank refusal.

"_I'll do this for now,"_ Levi said, _"but in exchange, Hanji, I want you to hand in your work on time."_

Eren smiled and then let it slip. One more student meant less free time, but it also meant more money. He knew that helping Levi would be a challenge, but then again, he had never back down from one.

**That's that. They met. Banzai. Thank you all for reading this chapter. Reviews are much appreciated and welcome. I don't know when I'll be able to update again, but I will definitely update. **

**See you all later. **


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey hey. So this was finished faster than I expected – that might be because I was typing this instead of my lesson plans. Anywho, thank you to Raven Kimura, JayAndy, Guest and KittensRgreat for reviewing, of course to all those who put up alerts and favourites for this story. Warning, this chapter is shorter than the previous ones.**

**Chapter 02: **

The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the birds were chirping. People would call it a good day, but Eren thought otherwise. The sun shined eighty present of the time in Thailand, the only exception was during the rainy season. Without clouds it was too hot for him to go outside. There was a bird right outside his window chirping away loudly. It was annoying.

"Things can't get worse," Eren muttered.

He was sitting on his bed with his laptop in front of him. With his earphones in his ear, Eren listened to his music on shuffle. He was browsing through the internet. He had to find something to occupy himself for the day. Eren sighed. There were no interesting trends at the moment. He had a whole Saturday to waste, well, not the entire day. He had to make food tonight, so naturally, they would barbeque later. That meant he had to go shopping.

"I wonder if Tesco will have any specials on the squid fillet," he said out loud.

Silently, he wondered what Marco and Bertolt were up to. Marco was probably swimming in the pool, if they didn't close it for some or other bizarre reason again. Bertolt was probably checking for any streams for the weekend's sport. Eren was happy to finally have someone of the same nationality as a colleague. Sure, he met other South Africans when he had the time and money to travel, but most of his colleagues over the years had either been American or British like Marco.

A chime sounded over the guitar solo that was currently playing. A blue icon briefly flashed in the top right-hand corner of the screen. A Skype message. He was too slow and the alert disappeared before he could see who had sent it. He pushed his glasses back into place as he wondered who had sent him a message.

Eren quickly opened up his Skype window and saw a contact request from someone he didn't recognize. It was from Levi.

_I didn't think he'd add me the next day,_ Eren thought.

He accepted the request and before he could even blink, a new message popped up.

**Levi:** _What time are you available, brat? _

"He gets right to it, doesn't he?" Eren murmured.

**Eren:** _I need to check my schedule. _

Before he could even reach for the diary on the shelf behind him, there was another message.

**Levi:** _I don't a baby-faced brat like you has much of a schedule to keep track of. _

Eren stared at the message. Originally he had thought that Levi's behaviour last night was because the man had had a bad day. He had changed his mind. It was Levi's nature. Eren felt like calling off the entire thing. He didn't want to deal without someone who had a mightier-than-thou complex. The 'brat' comments were also annoying. He knew he was young, but he neither a child nor an idiot.

"I'm not baby-faced either," he grumbled.

**Eren: **_I'm not a brat. I'm 22 years old! _

Eren decided to ignore the new message in favour of getting his diary. He flipped through the pages and noted his open slots for the upcoming week. There weren't many, but he could squeeze Levi in for a session as night, at least for the time being.

He put down the diary and focused on his laptop again.

**Levi: **_You're still a brat - the fact that you responded to that proves it. _

He decided to ignore the message.

**Eren: **_I usually do hour long sessions. I can do a session with you from seven thirty to eighty thirty in the evening on Tuesdays and eleven in the morning Saturdays. Will that suit you?_

Eren straightened his back and stretched out his arms. He had been sitting in the same position for too long. He needed to get up or at least sit at his desk. Eren took his music player off of shuffle. He didn't know what he was in the mood to listen to. He scrolled down the list of albums. Snow Patrol was a good option.

Once Eren had the music playing, he went back into Skype. Levi had yet to reply. He took the opportunity to browse through the conversation again. Levi's grammar seemed perfect, but he remembered that Levi's pronunciation was off, and his speech was not fluid.

Eren looked at Levi's profile picture. It was a photo of the man himself, looking at whoever had taken the picture. He sat at a desk with his face cupped in his hand. His fingers were curled over the corner of his lip; an index finger was extended that rested just below his glasses. From the first impression Eren had of Levi, he didn't expect the man to have such a casual photo on display.

Eren would admit that it Levi's pose, his clothes, the lighting, hell, even the glasses were all to the man's advantage. If he had been shown the photo and then met Levi later, he wouldn't have thought that they were the same person.

A new message appeared.

**Levi: **_Is that your time or mine? _

Eren groaned. He forgot that there was a two hour difference between Thailand and Japan. Before he could start his reply, another message appeared.

**Levi: **_Two hours is a big difference brat. I actually have work to do. _

**Eren:**_ I know, sorry. It slipped my mind. I sent that using my time zone._

**Levi: **_Brat. _

Eren sat back against the headboard/bookshelf and pulled his laptop into his lap. He waited for Levi to confirm the times.

**Levi: **_I guess that will work. _

Eren smiled. He now had another client. He didn't teach English because of the good pay – he genuinely enjoyed teaching the language. He would be the first person to admit that the job a real pain at times, but nothing in life was perfect right?

His moment of joy dropped like a stone when he read Levi's new message.

**Levi: **_Did you actually read what you sent me? _

_What? _Eren thought. Did he need to dig his own grave? Was there a heinous typo that Levi had picked up? He quickly scrolled back up and reread all his messages. He didn't find anything wrong.

**Eren: **_I don't see the problem. _

**Levi: **_Of course you don't baka. _

Eren frowned. Not only was he a brat, but now he was an idiot as well.

**Levi:**_ Are you a therapist? _

Eren frowned at his screen. He had no idea what brought on that question, but he didn't want to ask Levi why. He didn't feel like being called an idiot again.

**Eren: **_No. _

**Levi: **_Then I'll just leave it like that. _

_What? _Eren stared at the sentence. He wanted to know what Levi had picked up on. He wanted to know why the man asked if he was a therapist. He was curious. Levi couldn't just leave the subject like that.

Eren didn't know what to do, so he waited for Levi to possibly continue the conversation. While he waited, he made a list of things he needed to buy when he actually got off of his behind and went into town. It was a long list. He had to carry all of that back home. He could always take a scooter taxi back home, and even get a cheap price for it, but on the other hand, he didn't want to waste money when he had to perfectly capable legs.

Eren noticed his internet access was low, bordering on limited. He would have to end his conversation with Levi.

**Eren: **_Whatever. Look, I have to go. _

He saw that Levi was busy typing a reply. An idea popped into his head.

**Eren: **_Do you have LINE? _

Levi had stopped typing. Eren stared at his screen. He did not just ask a client if they had a LINE account, did he? That was just wrong on so many levels.

**Levi: **_Brat. Don't say you have to leave and then ask a question. So which is it? Do you have to leave or do you want to continue talking? _

Eren sighed.

**Eren: **_I have to go, but please just answer the question first. _

**Levi: **_Who doesn't have LINE?_

Eren grabbed at his hair nervously. He wished he had never asked the man.

**Eren: **_Can I have your number then? I won't be able to do today's session. I have errands, but I can talk to you over LINE. No offense, but your pronunciation is horrible. We really need to work on that._

**Levi: **_Thanks, brat. You really know how to boost someone's confidence. Now I know the reason why Hanji is crying at night. You're a terrible human being. _

Eren gaped at those words.

**Eren: **_You can't be serious. I've never been like that with Hanji. There has to be another reason. I would never intentionally try to upset Hanji. _

**Levi: **_Calm down brat. It was a joke. You're amusing. Here's my number. _

**XXXXX**

Levi sighed and leaned backwards as far as he could go without tipping over his char. He found the kid amusing. He wanted to play more, but he had storyboards to edit. Perhaps he could try multitasking. Eren said he had errands to do, and he had come to the conclusion that the brat wanted to talk more. He was up for that.

A whine caught his attention. Levi looked down and saw Heisichō, his white Kishu, looking up at him. He reached down and scratched behind the dog's ear. He had to take Heisichō for a walk. He hadn't had the time to do it all week. It was the weekend, and he was tired of being in his house any way.

"We might as well go to the park then," Levi told Heisichō.

As if knowing his owner's intentions, the dog stood up and left the room. Levi suspected Heisichō was waiting at the door already. Levi quickly went over to his cleaning supplies closet and got the dog's leash. With it in hand, he went to the front door and pulled on a jacket, slipping his phone into a pocket. He expected to hear from Eren soon. Heisichō barked and jumped from side to side at the sight of his leash.

"Calm down," he said. It failed. "Sit."

Heisichō promptly sat down. Levi attached the leash and opened the door. Heisichō was the first one out. Levi locked his door and proceeded to the elevator. His elderly neighbour greeted him. Now most people would assume that he hated the world and everything in it, and it was his hobby to make old women and little girls cry, but he had manners, and he respected the elderly. Well, a select few, at least. His elderly neighbour happened to be one of the chosen few. She liked to make him food at least one a week. Why he didn't know. Levi didn't like being in debt with anyone, so as payment he cleaned her apartment for her once a week. She was too old to do it properly anyway.

Once Levi was out of the building, he made for the park. It was cold. He wished he had taken a scarf with him, and maybe even a pair of gloves. Heisichō seemed happy enough just by being outside. Levi wished he could be happy with simple things like that.

Levi took his phone from his pocket and unlocked it. He opened up his LINE application. There it was - Eren's name. Before he could call the brat himself, Eren called him.

"Moshi moshi," Levi answered.

"Ohayō gozaimasu, Levi-san," Eren said.

How cute, the brat was speaking Japanese.

"Japanese? I thought I needed to work on my shitty pronunciation."

Levi could hear Eren make a nervous sound on the other end of the line. He wondered if it was because of what he said or if the brat didn't understand what he had said.

"Um, I'm very sorry about that," Eren said in a rush. "You're grammar and vocabulary is very good, but, you know, your pronunciation is bad."

Levi almost wanted to smile. He hadn't taken any offense when Eren had said it the first time. It was just fun to yank his chain. Thinking of chains, Levi looked at Heisichō. He was still behaving, not that he expected anything less from his dog. He just needed make sure no one bumped into him.

"You seem to think you're an expert when it comes to language, so let me give you a taste of your own medicine." Levi said. "Your word order is wrong, and you're overusing keigo."

"I knew that already," Eren muttered. "I don't get a lot of time to practise my Japanese. My Thai is better than my Japanese. Well, of course it would be. I speak it every day."

Levi rolled his eyes. "So the baby-faced teacher can speak three languages?"

Eren was quiet for a while. "Can you repeat that please, and a bit slower?"

Levi sighed, but he complied.

"I don't have a baby face!"

"Really, because I can imagine your facial expression now is just like a baby about to throw a tantrum. Cheeks puffed up, lips quivering and eyes watering."

"You really know h-" Eren cut himself off as he let out a yelp.

Levi frowned. He could hear a dog barking, and what he assumed was Eren shouting something, but it was unintelligible. There was a loud noise for a while. Levi held the phone away from his ear for a moment and entered the park. Heisichō wanted to run, but he was not in the mood, nor was he properly dressed. He would run with the dog next time. Levi thought about possible taking Heisichō to the dog park where he could run around freely, but it was too cold for him to want to walk that far.

Levi frowned. He could hear Eren breathing on the other end, but it sounded laboured.

"Are you alive brat?" Levi asked. It would be troublesome of Eren died in the middle of conversation.

"Hah, just.." Eren stopped talking. He was more focused on breathing it seemed. "There was… a dog."

"A dog?"

"Yes, a dog, _hond, hund, sunakh, dog," _Eren shouted.

"Why are you so frantic over a dog?" Levi asked.

"That dog is evil. It hates _farang_. It barks and tries to bite me every time I walk past. I usually first run away from them, but if I don't have that option, then I'll kick it. That should make it leave me alone."

Levi tightened his grip on Heisichō's leash. "You would kick an animal?"

Eren groaned. There was a long period of silence.

"Look, I don't condone animal cruelty, but have you ever been chased and attacked by a dog?" Eren asked.

"No," Levi answered, "but that is no excuse to abuse and animal."

"Really? What give a dog the right to chase and maul a seven year old?"

Levi stopped in his tracks. Eren's voice had faltered. Judging by what he had said, Levi guessed that that was what that the brat had experienced himself. He wondered if Eren had developed a phobia of dogs because of that incident. He was opposed to the idea of someone hurting an animal, but on the other hand, wild, dangerous animals needed to be kept away from society.

"You're right," Levi started, "but it would be easier for a brat like you to run than to kick an animal. You're skinny body might just snap from the effort."

"You're impossible you know that?"

"I may have been told that before," Levi said with nonchalance.

**So that's where I'll end this chapter. Short I know, but please just bear with it. I hope you all enjoyed it at least. Just to let you guys know, I don't condone animal cruelty, but have you ever walked down a street and suddenly had a dog sink it's teeth into your calf? Yeah, that actually happened to me. Like Eren, I run before I resort to kicking the dog, because I don't want to get bitten in the leg again. **

**And as a side note that is actually completely pointless. Yes, I made Eren South African, because why not? It's plausible. Also, I'm not actually going to type out Levi's mispronunciation, I'm not that in tune with the Japanese mispronunciation as I am with the Thai mispronunciation. **

**Anyway, reviews are much appreciated and welcome! **

**See you later!**


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